2024-2025
Southside Middle School
MYP Academic Honesty Policy
This policy is based on Academic honesty in the IB educational context (2014) and MYP: From principles into practice [FPIP] (2014).
Introduction
Southside Middle School encourages all students to demonstrate the attributes of the IB Learner Profile. Academic honesty is part of being “principled”, a learner profile attribute where learners strive to “act with integrity and honesty” as we question, inquire and act (IB learner profile in review: Report and recommendation, 2013, p. 21). The faculty and staff of SMS are dedicated to ensuring all students develop personal integrity throughout their time at the school and believe preventing academic misconduct requires a proactive approach through teaching and reinforcing the concepts of academic integrity. All students are expected to complete their own, original, authentic work free from academic misconduct when working independently or collaboratively.
The objectives of this policy are to:
Define academic honesty and misconduct in the context of the MYP.
Define roles and responsibilities for the Head of School (principal), teachers, librarians, students, and parents in preventing and stopping misconduct.
Provide guidelines to prevent misconduct by students
Explain consequences established by the school to students found guilty of misconduct.
“An authentic piece of work is one that is based on [the student’s] individual and original ideas with the ideas and work of others fully acknowledged. Therefore, all assignments for assessment, regardless of their format, must wholly and authentically use that [student’s] own language, expression, and ideas. Where the ideas or work of another person are represented within a candidate’s work, whether in the form of direct quotation or paraphrase, the source(s) of those ideas or the work must be fully and appropriately acknowledged”. (Academic honesty, 2011, p. 2)
Defining Concepts
“The IB defines academic misconduct as behaviour that results in, or may result in, the student or any other student gaining an unfair advantage in one or more assessment components” (FPIP, 2014, p. 38). Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism, collusion, duplication of work, fabrication, falsification, or any other behavior that gives unfair advantage to a student of that affects the results of another student (i.e. cheating, misconduct during an assessment, creating unauthentic reflections, etc.).
Plagiarism: An act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and/or the representation of that author's work as one's own, by not crediting the original author, when there is a legitimate expectation of authenticity in order to gain some benefit or credit. Plagiarism equally applies to work other than text (i.e. art, music, etc.). It is important that students understand how to appropriately use another author’s work in their assignments to avoid both intentional and unintentional instances of plagiarism.
Examples:
Any representation of others’ work as your own
Non-original work that is not cited and appropriately referenced in submissions
Copying information from a book, website, or any other source
Misuse of quotation marks, paraphrasing, and in text citations making authorship unclear
Failure to identify the source of nonverbal work (i.e. painting, dance, photo, proof, musical composition, etc.) that you’ve derived your work from.
Using online translators unless explicitly allowed
Note: Paraphrasing, using different words to restate a person’s ideas, without proper citation is considered plagiarism. Paraphrased ideas usually have a sentence structure, style, and vocabulary different from the original author. Paraphrasing is an acceptable way to use a source as long as the author is properly acknowledged through use of citations.
Collusion: supporting academic misconduct by another student, as in allowing one’s work to be accessed or copied or submitted for assessment by another student.
Examples:
Helping someone else cheat both deliberately and through support
Allowing your word to be copied and/or submitted by another student
Divide and conquer approach where you are not the author of the entire assignment given by the teacher (if not part of the assignment) (ex. when you answer questions 1-3 and your friend answers 4-6 and then you copy each other, or when you work with a partner when you weren’t supposed to)
Representing significantly unequal work as an equal collaboration (ex. when you claim to have done the group work but you really let someone else do most of the work)
Writing a paper or doing homework for another student, either at the time or sharing completed work with students who take the class in the future
Sharing information about assessment content and questions with other students via any form of communication
Note: Collusion is defined by the IB as occurring when a “student uses fellow learners as an unattributed soured” (FPIP, 2014, p. 77) and should not be confused with collaboration, which implies “working together on a common aim with shared information, which is an open and cooperative behavior that does not result in allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another” (FPIP, 2014, p. 77). At SMS all tasks are considered independent work unless the teacher specifies otherwise. See collaboration below for further information.
Duplication of work: the presentation of the same work for different assessment or curriculum components, i.e. turning in a paper for class A that was originally written for class B. All assignments should be created newly for the course or assessment unless discussed with the teacher well in advance.
Cheating: Any time a student makes a deliberate choice to gain an unfair advantage, including but not limited to copying another student’s work (with or without their knowledge), copying assessment tasks or questions, forgery, using unauthorized notes or other aides during an assessment.
Unfair Practices: Any action that gains the student an unfair academic advantage.
Examples:
Fabrication of data or results and recording or reporting on them or submitting fabricated documents or any other thing that is not authentic
Falsifying records or data
Altering grades
Phony citations
Impersonating a person
Sharing passwords or using unauthorized material
Disclosing information about assessments
Misconduct during testing times
Authenticity: refers to work that is based on the student’s own ideas and which properly acknowledges others’ authorship and ideas. Therefore, in all work (whether written, verbal, visual, or audio-visual) that is submitted by a student, his/her original language and expression must be used. When other sources are used or reference to the work of others is made, whether directly or by paraphrasing, sources must be documented appropriately (Academic honesty, 2011. P.2). It is the understanding of all school personnel that when a student puts his or her name on any assignment, it is being submitted as original work and the student is acknowledging original ownership of the work.
Collaboration: Working with others on a common aim. When permitted, students should work together on a task, having equal authorship in it. At times, part of an assignment might be collaborative while another part is independent. For instance, students might work together on a science lab, resulting in identical data charts, but the written responses and evaluations of the data are to be independent.
Intellectual property: – the World Intellectual Property Organization considers intellectual property as the “legal rights which result from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields” (WIPO, 2004). Students must understand that both creative and intellectual forms of expression must be respected and are normally protected by national and international law.
Roles and Responsibilities
Faculty: (including teachers, counselors, media specialists, academic coaches, support and paraprofessionals)
Communicate appropriate collaboration versus collusion with each assignment.
Teach a recognized citation convention for written and not written works.
Demonstrate and model academic honesty in presentations, etc.
Assure students in your class understand that when they submit a task as their own, they are representing that they have not received unauthorized aid on the assignment.
Minimize temptation for malpractice on assignments or in assessment situations.
Communicate with students, parents, counselors, and administrators about concerns and malpractice offenses.
Report and record academic dishonesty through the Behavior Tracking Form and a referral on FOCUS when applicable.
Teachers, administrators, and counselors involve students in reflection/discussion in the instance of malpractice.
Students:
Read and sign the Academic Honesty Agreement form indicating an understanding of what academic honesty is and the expectations had of the student.
Report malpractice violations (cheating) to a trusted school employee.
Work to produce authentic work.
Understand that putting your name on an assignment certifies the work as your own.
Take responsibility of turning in original work with properly cited sources.
Minimize malpractice temptation by balancing time appropriately.
If an incident of malpractice occurs, either intentional or unintentional, complete the refection process with your instructor.
Ask for guidance when you are unsure.
Administration and/or MYP Coordinator: (including all administrators and dean of students)
Support academic honesty policy and investigate all counselor/teacher reports of malpractice.
Ensure all staff, students, and parents understand definitions, responsibilities, and repercussions.
Ensure the academic honesty policy is applied consistently throughout the school.
Provide staff development and guidance on academic writing and referencing systems that are available.
Provide teachers with material to guide students in maintaining academic honesty.
Investigate malpractice.
Make parent and student contact to reflect on malpractice incidents.
Media Specialist and/or Literacy Coach
Support teachers and students in identifying good practice regarding academic honesty.
Help students obtain reliable information from various sources.
Collaborate with teachers to identify original work as well as identifying plagiarized material and its sources.
Parents, guardians, and/or outside support:
Read the online copy of the Duval County Public Schools Secondary Code of Student Conduct and the online copy of the SMS Academic Honesty Policy
Read and sign the Academic Honesty Agreement form.
Encourage your child to practice academic honesty.
Encourage your child to cultivate a culture of academic honesty in school.
Address concerns of academic misconduct/malpractice with your student and school personnel if necessary.
Monitor hired tutors to assure authentic student work.
Preventing Malpractice
Since the faculty recognize not every instance of academic dishonesty is an intentional attempt to present another person’s ideas as one’s own, our school takes proactive measures to inform and teach learners preventative measures. Specifically, students are given an opportunity to properly cite sources and correct their work if academic dishonesty is discovered. In doing so, we recognize a teachable moment, which will help prevent future academic dishonesty or malpractice.
In order to lessen the likelihood of malpractice the faculty will incorporate examples of collaboration vs. collusion during the character lessons at the beginning of each school year, helping students to better understand just what is and is not allowed. In addition, teachers will clearly convey when collaboration is or is not permitted on assignments.
Repercussions
In the event of intentional academic dishonesty, the faculty and administration at SMS will follow the Duval County Public Schools Secondary Code of Student Conduct. In accordance with the DCPS SCSC, for a first offence parent contact will be made and the case will be sent before the Restorative Justice Council. For a second offence, parent contact will be made, Restorative Justice will take place, and the student may receive either detention or one day of in-school suspension. A third occurrence will repeat the repercussions of a second with the change of 2-3 days of in-school suspension. A fourth occurrence will require a parent conference and SOS; if this is declined, the student will receive 4-6 days of in-school suspension.
In addition to the district repercussions, the teacher in charge of the assignment in question may elect to allow the student to redo the work independently, require the student to complete an alternative assignment, or to award a failing grade for the assignment. This decision will be at the discretion of the teacher and will depend upon the severity of the infraction.
Sources:
International Baccalaureate Organization.
Academic honesty in the IB educational context. 2014
Academic honesty in the MYP. 2014. pamphlet
Academic honesty. 2011. UK
2024-2025
Southside Middle School
MYP Academic Honesty Policy
Agreement
Each student has the responsibility to uphold the highest standard of academic integrity in their work and will be responsible for abiding by the Academic Honesty Policy at all times. Plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated at Southside Middle School. All students are required to produce their own work and provide proper credit, citation, or reference for work used in written assignments, projects, or other tasks given to students by their teachers. All work is to be considered independent work unless otherwise indicated by the teacher. Instances of academic dishonesty may result in a failing grade on the assignment.
Students will not:
copy another student’s work.
allow another student to copy their work.
share information about or answers to a test at any time in any way.
visually scan another student’s answers during a test or individual assignment.
submit work that was not produced by them.
use the internet for plagiarism (including cutting and pasting material) or designing PowerPoints.
write answers on hands or small sheets of paper to use during testing.
use any unauthorized aides during testing or on assignments.
I ________________________________understand that my signature below indicates my full understanding of the above agreement and the Academic Honesty Policy in full. In addition, I understand that failure to follow the Academic Honesty Policy may result in a failing grade on the assignment.
Student Signature:_________________________________________ Date:________________________
Parent Name (Printed): ____________________________________________________
Parent Signature: ____________________________________________